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Science for Grades 4 and 8: Trends Over Three Time Points
Cognitive Subscales
| Education system | Standard errors for average cognitive domain score | Standard errors for change in average cognitive domain score1 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 2011 | 2015 | Score difference: 2007 to 2015 | Score difference: 2011 to 2015 | |||||||||||
| Knowing | Applying | Reasoning | Knowing | Applying | Reasoning | Knowing | Applying | Reasoning | Knowing | Applying | Reasoning | Knowing | Applying | Reasoning | |
|
† Not applicable. 1 The change in average score is calculated by subtracting the 2007 or 2011 estimate, respectively, from the 2015 estimate using unrounded numbers. 2 National Defined Population covers 90 to 95 percent of the National Target Population in 2015. 3 Met guidelines for sample participation rates only after replacement schools were included in 2015. 4 National Defined Population covers less than 90 percent of the National Target Population (but at least 77 percent) in 2015. 5 Nearly satisfied guidelines for sample participation rates after replacement schools were included in 2015. 6 The number in parentheses indicates years of school not grade in schooling. 7 National Target Population does not include all of the International Target Population in 2015. 8 Reservations about reliability because the percentage of students with achievement too low for estimation exceeds 15 percent but does not exceed 25 percent in 2015. 9 Did not satisfy guidelines for sample participation rates in 2015. NOTE: Education systems are ordered by 2015 average score in reasoning. Education systems that are not countries are designated by the appended three-letter international abbreviation for their country. Participants that did not administer TIMSS at the target grade are not shown; see the international report for their results. For cross-education system trend tables, data are shown for the first available and most recent year; 1995 is the first year for the overall science scale and benchmark data and 2007 is the first year for the content and cognitive subscales. Participants that only participated in one of the three time points are also excluded. U.S. state data are based on public school students only. For TIMSS 2015, Norway revised its assessed population to students in their 5th and 9th years of schooling to obtain better comparisons with Sweden and Finland. However, in previous TIMSS cycles Norway assessed students in their 4th and 8th years of schooling, which were defined as 4th and 8th grades but have been redefined as 3rd and 7th grades because year 1 in Norway is now considered the equivalent of a year of kindergarten. To maintain trend with previous TIMSS cycles, in 2015 Norway also collected data from students in their 4th and 8th years of schooling, which is used in trend tables. Jordan did not participate in the science assessment at the 4th grade. Trend results for Kuwait do not include private schools. Trend results for Lithuania do not include students taught in Polish or in Russian. For 2007, Georgia and Lithuania had a National Target Population that did not include all of the International Target Population; the United States, Ontario-CAN, and Quebec-CAN had a National Defined Population that covered 90-95 percent of the National Target Population; Denmark and the United States met guidelines for sample participation only after replacement schools were included; the Netherlands and Dubai-UAE nearly satisfied guidelines for sample participation rates after replacement schools were included; and Dubai-UAE tested the same cohort of students as other education systems, but later in the assessment year at the beginning of the next school year. For 2011, Georgia, Kuwait, Lithuania, and Florida-USA had a National Target Population that did not include all of the International Target Population; Croatia, Denmark, Hong Kong-CHN, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Qatar, Serbia, Singapore, and the United States had a National Defined Population that covered 90-95 percent of the National Target Population; Florida-USA had a National Defined Population that covered less than 90 percent of the National Target Population (but at least 77 percent); the Netherlands and Northern Ireland-GBR met guidelines for sample participation rates only after replacement schools were included; and Norway (4) nearly satisfied guidelines for sample participation rates after replacement schools were included. In Kuwait in 2011, there were reservations about reliability because the percentage of students with achievement too low for estimation exceeded 15 percent but did not exceed 25 percent; in Morocco there were reservations about reliability because the percentage of students with achievement too low for estimation exceeded 25 percent. SOURCE: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 2007, 2011, 2015. | |||||||||||||||
| Singapore2 | 4.5 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 3.6 | 6.1 | 5.8 | 5.5 | 5.3 | 5.7 | 5.2 |
| Japan | 2.6 | 3.1 | 2.1 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 2.4 | 2.6 |
| Korea, Republic of | † | † | † | 2.1 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 2.2 | 1.9 | 2.2 | † | † | † | 3.0 | † | 3.8 |
| Russian Federation | 5.5 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 3.8 | 3.5 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 3.3 | 3.8 | 6.8 | 6.2 | 6.5 | 5.5 | 4.8 | 5.7 |
| Chinese Taipei-CHN | 2.7 | 2.1 | 3.3 | 2.6 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 3.1 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 4.5 | 3.7 | 4.1 | 4.4 |
| Hong Kong-CHN3 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.9 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 4.2 | 3.0 | 3.3 | 4.1 | 5.0 | 4.8 | 6.3 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 5.8 |
| Finland | † | † | † | 2.5 | 2.4 | 3.0 | 3.1 | 2.4 | 2.3 | † | † | † | 4.0 | 3.4 | 3.8 |
| Kazakhstan | † | † | † | 5.4 | 5.2 | 5.8 | 5.0 | 4.6 | 4.5 | † | † | † | 7.4 | 6.9 | 7.4 |
| Sweden2 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 4.3 | 2.8 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.8 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 4.9 | 4.7 | 5.8 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 4.9 |
| United States 2, 3 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.2 | 2.7 | 3.7 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 3.6 |
| Lithuania2 | 2.3 | 3.3 | 2.9 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 3.2 | 2.5 | 3.3 | 3.9 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 3.5 | 4.3 |
| England-GBR | 3.3 | 3.4 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 3.2 | 4.5 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 5.3 |
| Slovenia | 2.0 | 2.5 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 3.8 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 4.4 |
| Croatia | † | † | † | 2.0 | 2.4 | 3.5 | 2.9 | 2.2 | 2.4 | † | † | † | 3.5 | 3.3 | 4.3 |
| Hungary | 3.5 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 4.7 | 3.8 | 3.4 | 3.9 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 5.7 | 5.3 | 4.9 | 6.1 |
| Germany | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 4.0 | 2.5 | 3.7 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 4.9 | 3.5 | 4.3 |
| Czech Republic | 3.0 | 3.3 | 3.6 | 3.2 | 2.7 | 3.9 | 3.0 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 4.3 | 4.0 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 3.4 | 4.6 |
| Australia | 3.5 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 2.8 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 2.7 | 3.0 | 4.8 | † | 5.1 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 4.5 |
| Ireland | † | † | † | 3.8 | 3.6 | 3.3 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.9 | † | † | † | 4.6 | 4.3 | 4.4 |
| Netherlands3 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 2.2 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 3.4 | † | 3.2 | 3.1 | 4.2 |
| Belgium (Flemish)-BEL3 | † | † | † | 2.2 | 1.9 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 2.9 | † | † | † | 3.5 | 3.1 | 3.9 |
| Denmark 2, 3 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 4.4 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 2.9 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 5.3 | † | 3.5 | 4.1 |
| Serbia4 | † | † | † | 2.9 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 3.9 | 4.5 | 3.9 | † | † | † | 4.8 | 5.5 | 4.9 |
| Northern Ireland-GBR5 | † | † | † | 3.1 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.6 | † | † | † | 4.2 | 4.0 | 4.1 |
| Spain2 | † | † | † | 3.2 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 2.6 | † | † | † | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| New Zealand | 3.4 | 2.8 | 4.2 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 2.4 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.8 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 3.8 |
| Italy2 | 4.1 | 3.3 | 3.5 | 3.1 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 5.1 | 4.5 | 5.0 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.6 |
| Slovak Republic | 4.9 | 5.0 | 5.4 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 3.3 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 5.9 | 5.7 | 6.3 | 5.1 | 4.8 | 5.2 |
| Portugal2 | † | † | † | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 2.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 | † | † | † | 5.2 | 4.6 | 4.7 |
| Turkey | † | † | † | 4.7 | 4.7 | 5.3 | 3.0 | 3.1 | 3.3 | † | † | † | 5.5 | 5.7 | 6.2 |
| Norway (4)6 | 3.2 | 3.7 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 3.7 | 3.0 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 4.2 | 3.7 | 4.9 |
| Chile | † | † | † | 2.8 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 2.5 | † | † | † | 4.2 | 3.7 | † |
| Bahrain2 | † | † | † | 3.8 | 3.8 | 4.8 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 3.0 | † | † | † | 4.6 | 4.8 | 5.6 |
| United Arab Emirates | † | † | † | 2.8 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 3.0 | † | † | † | 4.3 | 4.1 | 4.0 |
| Qatar | † | † | † | 5.2 | 5.4 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 4.4 | † | † | † | 6.9 | 7.2 | 6.4 |
| Oman | † | † | † | 4.6 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 3.2 | 2.9 | 3.0 | † | † | † | 5.6 | 5.2 | 5.3 |
| Georgia7 | 4.3 | 4.7 | 6.1 | 3.8 | 4.3 | 4.8 | 4.2 | 4.8 | 4.0 | 6.1 | 6.7 | 7.3 | 5.7 | 6.4 | 6.2 |
| Iran, Islamic Republic of | 5.0 | 4.9 | 4.6 | 4.2 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 4.5 | 4.9 | 6.5 | 6.6 | 6.7 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 6.2 |
| Saudi Arabia | † | † | † | 6.1 | 6.1 | 5.8 | 5.3 | 4.7 | 5.4 | † | † | † | 8.1 | 7.7 | 8.0 |
| Morocco8 | † | † | † | 6.0 | 4.9 | 5.1 | 5.6 | 4.7 | 4.7 | † | † | † | 8.2 | 6.8 | 7.0 |
| Kuwait8 | † | † | † | 5.6 | 4.9 | 5.2 | 5.0 | 5.8 | 6.2 | † | † | † | 7.5 | 7.6 | 8.1 |
| Benchmarking participants | |||||||||||||||
| Florida-USA7 | † | † | † | 3.9 | 3.8 | 3.9 | 5.7 | 4.9 | 5.8 | † | † | † | 6.9 | 6.2 | 7.0 |
| Ontario-CAN | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 3.0 | 3.3 | 3.6 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.1 | 4.1 | † |
| Quebec-CAN9 | 2.8 | 3.0 | 3.6 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 3.8 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 5.1 | 5.4 | † | 5.0 | 5.1 | 5.9 |
| Dubai-UAE | 2.8 | 3.7 | 3.1 | 2.5 | 2.2 | 3.7 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 4.7 | 4.2 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 4.7 |
| Abu Dhabi-UAE2 | † | † | † | 5.7 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 6.6 | 5.9 | 5.3 | † | † | † | 8.7 | 7.9 | 7.4 |
